Usually, Ollie would have stopped arguing with his father, but for some reason, he was upset that Cedrick had belittled Catelyn. His expression darkened as he raised his innocent voice in a challenging manner, “Father, you can’t simply reject that lady because of a few words some outsider says.”
“Outsider?” Maia’s hands that held her cutlery froze as she thought, ‘Did Ollie just refer to her as an outsider? Does he know that I’m going to be his future stepmother?’
Cedrick, not expecting Ollie would talk to him like that for a strange woman, interrogated, “Who’s that woman to you?”
Ollie shook his head and said sincerely, “She’s the designer I chose to design my birthday mansion.”
“And you are arguing with me over a mere designer?”
In Mason Estate, Cedrick held absolute power, and no one, not even Ollie, could challenge him.
Ollie bit on his lower lip and noticed from the corner of his eyes that Catelyn and Miles had stopped talking to Jamie and were about to leave. He set down his cutleries elegantly with stubborn eyes and said, “I’m sorry, Father, I shouldn’t have argued with you. I’m full; may I be excused?”
Cedrick narrowed his eyes as his expression darkened.
The steak had only just come out of the kitchen, and the boy had only cut a small piece out of the beautifully heart-shaped steak, yet he claimed to be full?
“Ollie, are you trying to protest by refusing to eat?” Cedrick questioned coldly, and his voice pierced through the air in a horrifying manner.
Downstairs, Miles and Catelyn were already moving toward the exit.
Ollie lowered his arms by the sides of his body and clenched his fists before meeting Cedrick’s eyes fearlessly. “No, I’m really full.”
As the father and son had a standoff, Maia smiled and tried to ease the tension. “Master Cedrick, kids don’t develop much of an appetite. They usually don’t eat much, and Ollie—”
“Did I ask you to explain his actions for him?” Cedrick interrupted her with a dark expression.
Maia immediately turned red in embarrassment.
“It’s my fault, Father, so please don’t blame Aunt Maia. I won’t interrupt your date any longer and will be taking my leave now,” Ollie said hastily before slipping down the soft couch and running out of the door without looking back.
Maia was stunned. She had been engaged to Cedrick for years and watched as Ollie grew up, but never had she ever seen the child standing up against his father…not to mention ignoring Cedrick and running off.
“Where are you going, Ollie?” Maia mistook the boy’s action as a protest toward his father and hurriedly commanded the bodyguards standing by the side, “What are you all doing, just standing over there? Hurry up and go get the young master back!”
“Stop!” Cedrick scanned the bodyguards and said, “No one goes after him!”
Startled by how intimidating the man was, Maia shivered. “But he’s just a child! What happens if he runs into danger or kidnappers—”
Personally, she had preferred to spend time alone with Cedrick, but Ollie was his only son, and their marriage arrangement would suffer should anything happen to the boy.
“If he has the guts to run, then he should be ready to suffer whatever consequences that follow.” With a stone-cold mask on his defined features, Cedrick picked up the cutleries elegantly. “Didn’t you say that the steak here is great? Now that the courses are up, let’s eat.”
Maia awkwardly silenced herself.
Cedrick was a cold, majestic, devilish, and elegant man altogether. He was a legend of the Mason family and was her fiancé, too. Without Ollie around as the third wheel, she even started to feel even more excited about the date.
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